The hockey lifer, whose Rangers lost their shot at a 2014 championship in a tight five games as well, had cheered on the Amazin's during these baseball playoffs. But he clearly wasn't impressed with Cespedes or the toughness of baseball players in general after the Mets' 7-2 World Series-clinching defeat at Citi Field Sunday night.

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"How 'bout the one when you take the ball off (the knee) and you take yourself out of the game in the World Series?" Vigneault said, rolling his eyes as if to say, "Are you kidding me?"

Cespedes fouled a line drive hard off his left knee with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday night. He finished the at-bat by popping out. He then limped back to the dugout, putting no pressure on his injured leg, and came out of the game with a bruise.

In Vigneault's world, a hockey player dealing with the same pain would have pressed on. He obviously remembers center Derek Stepan playing through a broken jaw in 2014 and Ryan McDonagh playing through a broken foot in last spring's Eastern Conference finals — to name only a couple instances of hockey players performing hurt.

Cespedes also was dealing with shoulder soreness that forced him out of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series as well as bruises on his ring and middle fingers on his left hand after being hit by a pitch in a game against the Phillies on Sept. 30.

Vigneault's sarcastic shot at Cespedes came in response to a light-hearted question about whether the Rangers coach had ever been convinced by a goaltender to change his mind on whether to pull or play him — like Matt Harvey persuaded Terry Collins to keep him in Sunday's game.

Collins was prepared to go to his closer, Jeurys Familia, with a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning Sunday when Harvey convinced the manager otherwise. The move ended up blowing up and possibly costing the Mets a trip back to Kansas City.

Vigneault said no player has ever been able to talk his way into changing his mind, then proceeded to rip Cespedes. The Rangers (7-2-2), who host the Capitals (8-2-0) Tuesday night at the Garden, were supportive of the Mets' playoff run. Forwards Derick Brassard and Jarret Stoll and backup goalie Antti Raanta attended Game 4 on Saturday night, and Henrik Lundqvist sat in a suite behind home plate for Game 5 to support his good friend, Harvey.

"I already told him two weeks ago to really enjoy this moment," Lundqvist said of Harvey. "It's such a unique situation to pitch in the final like that, and I think he enjoyed the moment for sure. It was a great performance. They came up short in the end, but it was fun to watch him coming out there in the ninth with the whole stadium chanting his name. It was a great moment for him."